With just a few hours left to complete admission process to secure an engineering seat, the impasse between Karnataka Education Authority (KEA) and managements of various engineering colleges over the additional fees to be charged for Common Entrance Test (CET) continues.
As on Sunday both the government and the college authorities had failed to provide any clarity to the students about the fees to be paid to secure an engineering seat. Earlier this week, the Apex Court had set July 30 as the deadline for completion of admission process.
M K Panduranga Shetty, president of the Karnataka Private Unaided Engineering Colleges’ Association said: “This is not a new occurrence. It has been happening every year. This year maybe some students might not have been aware, hence complained.”
The consensual agreement between the colleges and the KEA, included only the tuition fees and not other associated costs of the course, he added.
Shetty admitted that there was no uniformity in the amount of extra fees being demanded by various colleges. “Some colleges take fees for uniforms and tours while others do not. However, there are fixed costs like university fees and exam fees that we shall have to collect from the students,” he said.
Putting the blame for the standoff on the Education Department and the government, Shetty said that KUPEKA had submitted data relating to extra fees collection to the previous Education Secretary Latha Krishna Rao last year in order to justify the collection. “Although she agreed to it, no further action was initiated. Even this year, we are yet to be contacted by any government representative on the matter,” Shetty said adding that the final decision on admitting students would have to be taken by the respective college principals themselves on Monday.
Principal Secretary for Higher Education H Siddaiah could not be reached for comment despite several calls and messages.
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